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扫墓 (sǎo mù) — to visit and clean a grave (as an act of ancestor worship, especially during Qingming Festival)

Definition

扫墓 (sǎo mù) literally means 'sweep the grave' — the traditional act of tidying an ancestor's tomb and paying respects, most commonly done at the Qingming Festival (清明节).

verb
to visit and clean a grave (as an act of ancestor worship, especially during Qingming Festival)

Examples

  • 扫墓。
    Qīng míng jié hěn duō rén dōu huì qù sǎo mù.
    Many people go to sweep graves during the Qingming Festival.
  • 。
    Wǒ men měi nián qīng míng dōu yào sǎo yí cì mù.
    We sweep the graves once every year at Qingming.
  • 扫墓。
    Tā men yì jiā lǎo xiǎo dōu qù sǎo mù le.
    The whole family, young and old, went to sweep the graves.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

扫sǎosweep
墓mùgrave

扫 (sweep) and 墓 (grave) combine to mean sweeping a grave.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 掃; 扫 is its simplified writing.

The form 掃 draws a hand with a broomstick, the thing used for sweeping.

Open 扫 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
土土tǔ
Sound part声符shēngfú
莫
莫mò墓mù
Same sound today

墓 combines 土 (earth) and 莫 (sound).

Open 墓 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9

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